Modern Strength and

Conditioning
for Tennis

Machar Reid, Miguel Crespo,

Ann Quinn and Dave Miley
International Tennis Federation, 1
Roehampton, UK
PURPOSE

Examine some recent developments
in tennis-specific athlete preparation

Determine their implications for
players and coaches.

Discuss advances in the screening
and fitness testing of players

Comment on the training of physical
capacities and qualities

2
INTRODUCTION

Tennis play requires that its
competitors possess speed,
strength, coordination,
flexibility, power and
endurance

Developed systematically

Sound scientific principles

Players bigger, faster and
stronger

Way the game is played has
changed as a result.

3
Specialised physical
training:
a decisive factor

Well-planned

Selects and
prioritises training
tasks related to the
demands of
competition:

coordinative,

biomechanical,

bio-energetic

4
 Variable Main characteristics
Workload Acyclic, short time intermittent workloads
Work phases Mainly extensive and partly intensive
Energetic rates Submaximal
Energy supply Adenosine-
Adenosine-tri-
tri-phosphate (ATP), Creatine phosphate (CP) and oxidation of carbohydrates
carbohydrates and lipids.
≈ 70 to 80% of the energy supplied by carbohydrates.
Caloric cost Kcal/hour Males (80 kg.): 600 kilocalories / hour. Females (65 kg.): 450 kilocalories / hour.
Average blood lactate Low (between 1.8 and 2.8 mmol/l), rising only (by ≈ 0.5 to 1.0 mmol/l) in real tournament conditions
concentrations Only 10% of measurements lead to anaerobic peaks with blood lactate
lactate levels between 5 and 8 mmol/
Rest and regeneration Usually sufficient time between rallies and changeovers for regeneration
regeneration of CP and ATP stores.
Rally length Women’
Women’s singles matches: Avg 7.1 secs/rally. Men’
Men’s singles matches: Avg 5.2 secs/rally.
Actual playing time Clay court: 20 to 30% of total playing time. Fast court: 10 to 15%
15% of total playing time.
Game situation (clay) Baseline: 60% of actual playing time (APT). Serve/return: 32%, Volleys: ≈ 5% Other ≈ 3%.
% baseline rallies/surface Clay: 51% of points, Australian Open: 46% of points, US Open: 35%
35% of pointsGrass: 19% of points.

Number of strokes 80% of points, play < 4 strokes (short rallies). Play > 8 strokes
strokes in less than 3% of rallies (long rallies).
Running distances Less than three metres per shot.
Running under pressure Players hit 10% of all strokes without a proper standstill (i.e. sliding) and having run ≈ 4 to 6 metres.
10% of all baseline strokes are played during a full sprint or they
they are not reached at all.
Time pressure Players are under time pressure during the execution of ≈ 20% of all strokes.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GAME

5
SCREENING

Medical:

Comprehensive medical examination
(general health and injury risk)

Performed by a Sports medicine
practitioner.

Includes the trunk/spine, shoulder girdle,
elbow and forearm, wrist and hand,
pelvic girdle, hip and thigh, knee and
shank, and ankle and foot.

Musculoskeletal:

Comprehensive examination of the
musculoskeletal system (posture,
flexibility, strength and stability)

Performed by a sports physiotherapist.

Includes standardised physiologic,
epidermic, neurologic and systemic
examinations.

General postural overview: Identify
anatomical, compensatory and adaptive
postural factors predisponent to injury or
affecting performance

Questionnaire: general health, family medical
history, injury history and nutrition

(Quinn and Reid, 2003). 6

 COMPONENT FIELD TESTS LAB TESTS
ANTHROPOMETRICS Height Height and weight
Weight Sum of 7 skinfolds
FLEXIBILITY In musculoskeletal screening In musculoskeletal screening
AEROBIC Multistage Fitness Test, Cooper 12 minute run, 11/2 mile run Max VO2, StagedTrackTest
ENDURANCE
ANAEROBIC Tennis Specific Agility Endurance Test Field test with Electronic Timing
ENDURANCE Gates, Tennis specific
endurance test (German)
STRENGTH Push up test, Grip Strength Test, Max body weight (bw)
Relative Strength Test dips
Maximum bw chin-
chin-ups, 3RM Squat or Bench Press divided
by body weight.
UPPER BODY POWER Overhead Medicine Ball Throw Service Speed
Sidearm Medicine Ball Throw – right and left Racquet Velocity in groundstroke
production
LEG POWER Vertical Jump – both legs, right leg, and left leg Elastic potential
Vertical Jump with Three Step run-
run-up (from force platform data)
Standing long jump/hop
SPEED 5, 10 and 20 metre sprint 5 or 10 metre sprint
with electronic timing gates
AGILITY/ Movement to the forehand side, backhand side, backwards Same with electronic timing gates
MOVEMENT Movement, planned Agility Test. Specific Coordination Test
COORDINATION The Hexagon Test
General Coordination Test

TESTING 7
COORDINATION, SPEED
AND AGILITY

Coordination is the most important factor (Schonborn, 1998).

Orientation

Rhythm

Reaction

Differentiation

Balance (Bourquin, 2003)

Fun and varied exercises

Speed:

Importance of reaction speed (Moreau et al., 2003)

Acceleration ability with coordination drills with varying degrees
of complexity

Agility:

Ability to execute a movement efficiently using minimal muscular
energy

Combined and varied exercises that are both specific and
suitably challenging

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FLEXIBILITY

Functional component of movement

Refers to the range of movement (ROM) around a joint

Usually developed through a variety of stretching
techniques:

ballistic stretching exercises,

static stretching exercises,

passive stretching exercises,

proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation,

neural glides - desensitising exercises,

postural stretching exercises.

At ATP level all players perform static stretching
exercises but only 75% do so more than once per day.
75% of male professional players use passive
stretching exercises (PNF) (Reque, 2002)

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FLEXIBILITY

Recent research challenges the use of extensive static
stretching in the warm-up

Movements requiring muscular power like jumping,
lunging and changing direction are compensated
following a bout of static stretching

20% decreases in performance (Cornwell et al., 2001)

Ballistic (and more recently dynamic) stretching
immediately prior to playing a match or performing a
maximal training activity is promoted (Ellenbecker and
Roetert, 2001)

Static stretching post-workout:

Recovering normal resting states,

Muscle lengths

Ffunctional joint mobility (Calder, 2002).

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ENDURANCE

Aerobic and anaerobic endurance are the
second most important conditional factors
after speed and agility by tennis coaches
(Ferrauti et al., 2002).

Influential in clay court tennis and baseline
players (Weber and Hollmann, 1984).

A high fatigue resistance in specific
musculature (stroke arm) is essential as
well as physical stress tolerance and
strength of will (Weber et al., 2002).
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ENDURANCE

Drills replicate submax- max
demands of matchplay (Ferrautti
et al., 2003):

Aer. endur drills: High density work /
sub-max intensity. (i.e. Crossct rally
drill changing directions after each
2- 3 str).

Aer/anaer endur drills: Playing
points from the baseline with no SV-
RT. (i.e. Coach puts ball into play
and players play the point).

Anaer endur drills: Intermittent work
at max metabolic intensity (i.e. 6-10
strokes on the run and under time
pressure plus active recovery over
30-45 secs).

High intensity anaer endur drills:
Often do not correspond to the
demands of matchplay. Prescribed
cautiously with at least 2 days to
recover and not during short-term 12
tournament preparation.
STRENGHT

Ability to apply force to overcome
resistance

In tennis:

Generate speed, power and endurance.

Quickness, anaerobic energy system
development

Flexibility

Training programmes adapted to court
surface demands:

Hard-court: Elastic/reactive strength,
acceleration and deceleration

Clay: Combination of stabilization,
isometric and eccentric strength,

Grass: Range of motion isometric holds,
and adynamic, limited range of motion style
of training. 13
POWER

Associated with speed of movement.

Ability of the player to overcome the inertia of his own
body weight and to initiate movement.

In tennis: emphasis on the “first step”, quick change-
of-direction, early set-up, etc.

Plyometrics facilitates the development of power in
athletes (Chu, 1998).

Based on the “stretch-shorten” cycle of muscle
activity:

Eccentric strength: the muscle lengthens under tension

Concentric strenght: the muscles reverse the absorption
phase and initiate the propulsion phase.

For the tennis player: upper and lower extremity
plyometrics also adding resistance of the medicine
ball (Chu, 2003).

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INJURY PREVENTION AND
MOTOR CONTROL

Long term success and performance

enhancement in tennis is linked to injury
prevention

Injury prevention considered holistically
(Kendrick, 2003).

Motor Control: Selective activation of the deep
musculature of the spine, abdomen, pelvis, hip,
knee and shoulder girdle

MC, Stabilisation Strength or Core Stability:
Prominent in most athletic training and injury
prevention (prehab) programmes of players 15
INJURY PREVENTION AND
MOTOR CONTROL

The local muscle system has a crucial role in
spinal segmental stabilisation

Enhanced joint stability will lead to:

More efficient functioning of the global muscle system

Improvements in strength and power

Dramatic reductions in recurrence rates of injury
can be obtained by re-educating the local
muscles (Cresswell, 1993)

Deep muscles perform:

Little movement

A stabilising role essential for efficient posture as well
as movement and stroke production

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RECOVERY TRAINING

Main objective: Enable the player to train with
minimal fatigue and, in doing so, to adapt to
workloads faster (Calder, 1996).

Reducing residual training fatigue and stress.

Main types of training and competition fatigue:

Metabolic (energy stores);

Neural of either or both the peripheral nervous system
(localised force production) and central nervous
system (drive/motivation);

Psychological (emotional and social stress factors);
and environmental fatigue (climate and travel).

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RECOVERY TRAINING
Areas

Nutrition:

Fluid balance: monitored
through urine checks and
weighing the player pre- and
post-training.

Minerals / trace elements:
Important for muscle
regeneration.

Extra intake may not be as
effective as increased dietary
sources.

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RECOVERY TRAINING
Areas

Physical therapies:

Passive: Sleep, meditation,
reading or listening to relaxing
music.

Active: Lighter work loads at the
end of a session, lighter sessions
within a microcycle and lighter
weeks within a macrocycle. At
least 1 day/wk non-training day.
Other interests outside tennis.

Other: Hydrotherapies, sports
massage, self-massage,
acupressure, acupuncture and
Hyperbaric Oxygenation Therapy
(Clews, 1990) 19
RECOVERY TRAINING
Areas

Psychological (Hogg, 2002),
(Loehr, 1992):

Debriefing: Evaluates
performance by focusing on
process rather than
outcomes

Mental toughness:
Biofeedback, positive self-
talk and body language

Relaxation: Meditation,
progressive muscle
relaxation (PMR), imagery
and visualisation, breathing
exercises, flotation and 20
music.
CROSS TRAINING

Participation in an activity other than that which you
primarily compete for the purposes of regeneration,
recovery and/or relaxation (Calder, 1994)

Goals:

Prevent overtraining

Promote recovery

Provide athletes with fresh physical and mental stimuli away
from the sport

Vital for the tennis player from physical, psychological
and social developmental points of view

Initiatives: Touch rugby or gridiron, soccer, frisbee,
boxing, athletics, yoga, netball, swimming and pool work,
bike-riding, Pilates, Tai Chi, basketball, squash, racquet-
ball, and gymnastics (Reid et al., 2003).
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CONCLUSION

Tennis places unique physical demands on
its exponents

In return it requires a unique set of physical
qualities and capacities for accomplished
and successful performance

The modern professional tennis player
needs to be a complete athlete

Strength and conditioning has also endured
considerable changes over time

Sport science has led this evolution and
demonstrated the effectiveness and
practical application of a variety of training
mediums

The challenge remains for the coach or
trainer to blend these mediums into a well-
planned, individualised and specific training
plan such that they are used to greatest
effect
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